Froome wins on Zoncolan!

Chris Froome (Team Sky) took his first-ever Giro d’Italia stage victory at the dream location of the Monte Zoncolan as he fended off race leader Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) who rode superbly behind him and extended his advantage over the other favourites. The two British stars scored an historic 1-2 on the royal wedding day. Both will be remembered for a long time.

STATISTICS

• First Giro d’Italia victory for Chris Froome who has now won at least one stage in every Grand Tour (1 at the Giro, 7 at the Tour, 5 at La Vuelta). It’s also Froome’s first win this year.
• Second British double in the history of the Giro after the time trial to Saltara (stage 8) in 2013 with Alex Dowsett first and Bradley Wiggins second. It’s the 26th stage win for British riders – just as many as Russia – who sit in 10th position in the countries’ tally.
• Great-Britain has reached 150 leader’s jerseys in all three Grand Tours: 15 at the Giro, 89 at the Tour, 46 at La Vuelta. It puts Great-Britain in 12th position of all time along with Colombia who’ve had four riders in the Maglia Rosa: Rigoberto Uran (4 days), Nairo Quintana (9), Esteban Chaves (1) and Fernando Gaviria (1).
• Fourth stage podium for Simon Yates: winner on stage 9 to Gran Sasso and stage 11 to Osimo, second on stage 6 to the Etna and stage 14 to Monte Zoncolan.

FINAL RESULT
1 – Chris Froome (Team Sky) – 186km in 5h25’31”, average speed 34.238km/h
2 – Simon Yates (Mitchelton – Scott) at 6?
3 – Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain – Merida) at 23?
4 – Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana Pro Team) at 25?
5 – Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) at 37?

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION
1 – Simon Yates (Mitchelton – Scott)
2 – Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) at 1’24”
3 – Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain – Merida) at 1’37”
4 – Thibaut Pinot (Groupama – FDJ) at 1’46”
5 – Chris Froome (Team Sky) at 3’10”

All the rankings

JERSEYS

• Maglia Rosa (pink), general classification leader, sponsored by Enel – Simon Yates (Mitchelton – Scott)
• Maglia Ciclamino (cyclamen), sprinter classification leader, sponsored by Segafredo – Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors)
• Maglia Azzurra (blue), King of the Mountains classification leader, sponsored by Banca Mediolanum – Simon Yates (Mitchelton – Scott), worn by Esteban Chaves (Mitchelton – Scott)
• Maglia Bianca (white), young rider general classification leader, sponsored by Eurospin – Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana Pro Team)

PRESS CONFERENCE
The stage winner, Chris Froome, said: “I’m really happy with the victory today. It’s a big boost in morale after what’s been a tough start to the Giro for the team and me but, being realistic, I’m still three minutes down. There are really strong riders here. Simon [Yates] has done a really amazing ride. In the last kilometre, I thought he was going to catch me – he’s got more of a kick than me – so having resisted [him] makes it a special victory. I want to thank everyone who supported us through this hard part of the race and kept the morale high. It never crossed my mind to retire from the race. It’ll remain as a memorable victory atop Zoncolan, which is one of the most iconic climbs here in Italy. Knowing the climb helped me. The fans have been fantastic. Grazie mille to all the tifosi, they make the race what it is.”

The Maglia Rosa, Simon Yates, said: “I’m happy and not happy. I really tried for the stage win. I just couldn‘t get Chris in the final, but any time I could get on the other rivals is good for me. As expected, the gaps aren’t massive. I’m still happy with the gap to Tom [Dumoulin] and the rest of the guys behind. I wasn’t more nervous than the other days, as much as I am sure that Tom is confident ahead of time trials. I couldn’t follow Froome – he went at a really good moment. He put in a really strong acceleration. It was still a long way to go. I rode my own tempo at that moment – he didn’t get a huge gap. I tried to bridge but that’s ok. I did the best I could.”

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